Memel small train
| Memel small train | |
|---|---|
 Small train station
| |
| Gauge : | 1000 mm ( meter gauge ) |
The Memel Kleinbahn AG was founded on 15 March 1904 by the Kingdom of Prussia , the province of East Prussia , the county Memel founded and the Nordic electricity and steel plants AG. Over the years, the city of Memel acquired all the shares and on July 16, 1940, the company was converted into the Memel municipal works . Memel had 45,000 inhabitants at that time.
The company maintained an electric tram in the city of Memel and three steam-powered small railroad lines in the area. The company was initially run by Nordische Elektrizitäts- und Stahlwerke AG. After this went bankrupt on January 31, 1907, the East German Railway Company in Königsberg took over this task.
tram
The meter-gauge tram was opened on August 18, 1904. After an expansion on December 12, 1904, the rail network covered twelve kilometers, on which two lines operated. Twelve railcars and five sidecars were available for this:
- 1 Memel train station - Stock Exchange - Royal Enamel
- 2 Memel Börse - beach villa (lighthouse)
Tram traffic was stopped again in 1934 - after just thirty years.
Local railroad
While the tram routes led from the city center to the south and north-west to the coast, from October 22, 1906, the small rail routes opened up the hinterland to the Russian border. Starting from the Memel small train station, the 35-kilometer “main line” ran in a south-easterly direction via Clemmenhof and Dawillen to Pöszeiten . In Clemmenhof a line branched off to Plicken (ten kilometers) and in Dawillen to Laugallen (five kilometers) in a northerly direction. The small railway network thus covered 50 km. Five steam locomotives , eight passenger cars , three baggage cars and 78 freight cars were available for this purpose. Two electric locomotives - some on tram tracks - were used in the city and port area.
The small station was located immediately south of the main station on Boyenstrasse. Like the main train station at the time, this was designed as a terminus , the tracks led away from the station in an easterly direction.
omnibus
After the tram was shut down, the Memeler Kleinbahn AG supplemented its transport offer from June 2, 1934 with a bus company which owned 17 buses at the beginning of the Second World War. The two former tram lines were used every twenty minutes. There were also five overland lines.
photos
Individual evidence
- ^ Fritz R. Barran; Landsmannschaft East Prussia (editor). City atlas East Prussia. Rautenbergverlag. Würzburg 2002, ISBN 3-8003-3050-4 , pp. 110-111
Web links
Coordinates: 55 ° 43 ′ 11.7 " N , 21 ° 8 ′ 11.8" E